3:43 video on Dano Songs, a GREAT source for high quality Royalty Free Music on a budget.  All of us interested in creating online videos are looking for good sources of royalty free music. Of course music is one of the best and easiest storytelling elements at any video makers disposal.

Royalty free music is a type created specifically for people doing lower-budget video productions and other multimedia projects that benefit from the addition of music.  Music you hear on the radio can’t be used unless you pay licensing fees which can be huge, especially if the song is popular.  Cadillac can afford to license Led Zeppelin for their commercials but most of us can’t!  Royalty Free music is what’s used.  Royalty free doesn’t mean fee free though, some R.F tunes can run 60 bucks or so for a basic track.

Today’s blog post shares a wonderful royalty free music resource online that comes to us from a gentleman named Dan O’Conner who lives in New York.  He’s dedicated to helping online video producers with their music needs for much less than the standard prices.

Dan O'Conner of Dano Songs

A multi-talented musician and composer, Dan has about one hundred royalty free songs he’s composed on his blog right now that you can download. He tells me he’s adding more every day! Now, Dan offers them with a very liberal, user-friendly license. Basically, to use his songs in any video, podcast, game or whatever, commercial or personal, all you need to do is either give him credit in your production plus a link back to his site, or if you want to use it without doing that, pay just 10 bucks per track. Either way, it’s a great deal!

I must confess that I had a great time making this video today about Dano Songs because it was so much fun listening to the music. If you watch the video, you’ll get to hear about twenty examples of Dan’s fine work.

I’m sure this awesome resources will help you make better videos.

I asked Dan in an email  interview what motivates him to do this.

I want to help people, organizations and businesses who are doing YouTube videos, apps, indie films, self-producing games, etc. and can’t afford the very high prices of stock music.

I started this site several years ago as a place to post a few tracks I recorded as a singer/songwriter. Then one day I added some instrumentals I created for fun. Since then the requests from visitors for music for YouTube videos, games, indie films, and slideshows has been non-stop.

Now I post new MP3s on my blog every day. Since I was a Music Business major in college I knew just what to do to set up a very user friendly license. If you have questions about using the music you can read the License FAQ on my blog.

Dan is a graduate with a Bachelor of Music, Music Business, from the Hartt School of Music, Professional Degree, Jazz Guitar and Vocals, Hartford Conservatory of Music.

I appreciate Dan letting me review his site.   I truly had fun listening to all the great music.  I am glad to be able to pass excellent resources  on to my readers so please enjoy!

Lorraine Grula

Internet Video Gal

Telling a great story with video in under 1:30 is always a challenge. EVIL WOMAN is the theme of this video.

Using just a few shots, video creator Craig B. told a very distinct story about this very evil woman he met!  Craig’s video was created for the WeVideo and Video Production Tips contest to win a free video camera.  Craig is the current leader in the contest so I thought readers  would find his storytelling adventures interesting.  (Scroll down for a video analysis with different info than this text post.)

First, let me say that Craig is pretty much a novice at digital video editing.  He has some experience with the old-style analogue video editing but of course that is radically different.

Even so, Craig says he was able to navigate through the WeVideo editing platform quite easily.   From start to finish, it took him about two hours to edit the video you see above.  That includes the time it took to upload all his video clips, arrange them in the timeline, pick out his royalty free music, place it and then edit in the graphics and export to You Tube.

The most time consuming thing was uploading his clips.  They are all royalty free clips he had previously downloaded from the free video clips download service called Bottled Video.     Like any good video producer, Craig had his clips all picked  out before he began editing.  To make the selection and upload process easier, Craig moved the clips he wanted to use to a new folder.  That way, once he got inside WeVideo, all he had to do was go to that one folder, select all, and do a batch upload.  Then  he took a dinner break.  When he was done chowing down, all the clips were in his free WeVideo account.

Then it was just a matter of putting everything in order and mixing it together.  Craig says he was not sure if the close-up shot of the door locking was telling enough for the story.  He actually wanted a shot of the couple walking into a room and closing the door behind him but he could not find one.  So he settled for the close-up of the door locking, then cut to the fireworks.

As a viewer, do you think that is enough?  This is one of those instances where it pays to be a critical viewer so you can have a better feel for what works and what doesn’t.  Then, if you find yourself in a similar situation editing, you can make the best decision.  Visual storytelling hinges on whether the shots you select are understood by the viewer.

Craig says he came up with his storyline based on the video he saw from Bottled Video.  He was glad the woman in the gym shot and the woman in the bathtub shot were both blondes!  I guess this guy has had a few bad experiences with women, but often the best art imitates life!

I thought the fireworks shot was a GREAT example of a visual analogy.   Coming after the “flirting” shot inside the gym, then the locked door, it is obvious what is happening.  No one will think they are attending a 4th of July event!   When he then immediately cuts to the shot of the guy getting busted, I personally burst out a good belly laugh.  I guess I have a sick sense of humor, but it was just so unexpected.  I never in a million  years was expecting THAT shot!  Like I said, I guess the guy has a sad history with women!  (We’re  not ALL like that!)

Using the bath tub shot with the music Evil Woman by Electric Light Orchestra after the arrest shot leaves no doubt in the viewer’s mind what has happened!

Overall, I think this is pretty good visual storytelling! What do you think? 

The video analysis I made for this page covers different stuff from this text post and shows you the inside of Craig’s WeVideo account and how he put the video together.

I appreciate Craig taking the time to make this video and enter it in the contest.  Now, can YOU make a better video and beat him out for the prize of a free Sony Bloggie Video camera?

The most important quality for a GOOD video is:

1. Good camera
2. Good lighting
3. Good microphone
4. Good storytelling

The answer is #4.  Story trumps everything.  That’s not to say you want your camera, lights or microphone to be BAD, but good story telling is what keeps viewers interested.  Assuming the image quality, lighting and sound are decent, no one (well, hardly anyone) will complain.   But if your video is boring with no compelling reason to watch, then it gets a thumbs down.

So pick your analogy: STORY is the heart, (backbone,) (foundation) of any video worth watching.  Think of it this way.  How many movies have you seen that were filled with awesome special effects and big-name stars but were disliked by audiences because the story just wasn’t up to snuff?

Just as it is the most important, storytelling is also the hardest aspect of video for newbies to master.  Most newbies don’t even think about storytelling as they are too concerned with getting everything plugged in and working properly.  I understand that.  What I don’t understand is why the vast majority of video production courses online don’t even touch on storytelling.   That’s a real disservice IMHO and one I work to overcome.

HOW TO BECOME A MASTER AT VISUAL STORYTELLING

I blog a lot about storytelling and you can read a post about basic storytelling for video here.   In this post, I want to cover something a bit more advanced:  the visual analogy.  Using visual analogies is one of the best and easiest ways of visual storytelling.  Here are two examples that use the same visual….a money-grubbing shark!

Visual analogies are a lot of fun.  They also “say” so much, without any words at all!  (That’s why they call it VISUAL storytelling.)  In the first video example above, the narration never uses words to say the government is a pack of crooks.   That’s done with visuals only.  Specifically, by using  a shot of a shark circling a floating dollar bill  overlaid on top of a shot of the Capitol dome.  The second example uses the word shark but the message would still be conveyed even if no such words had been used.

When using visual analogies, you are only limited by your imagination.  Want to call out your least favorite politician?  Use a shot of a hot-air balloon deflating.  If being crude works for your audience, use a shot of a dog doing his “business.”  Now you’ve really made a visual statement!  A shot of a clown would make a similar, but significantly different statement.  I once used a shot of cooked spaghetti draped over a spoon to symbolize what I thought were the spineless cowards in Congress.  They’re limp noodles!

Want to emphasize how frustrating it can be to play the dating game?  Use close-ups of a checkers game with one side smearing the other.  Games like chess, checkers, or baseball all make great visual analogies for all kinds of situations.  Life is like a baseball game, right?

LOTS OF EXAMPLES!

Want to emphasize how hard it can be to navigate your career path?  Use a shot of a hamster going around and around on  his wheel and not getting anywhere.

Want to emphasize how hard it is to control your appetite and lose weight?  Show a paper shredder “gobbling” up page after page.  That’s certainly less demeaning than showing barnyard animals wallowing in their slop, but both visual analogies convey the same point.

Just about any visual can be used as analogy for something.  A close-up of a light switch being turned off can signal the end of something.  A wadded up piece of paper being thrown at a trashcan can symbolize failure or perseverance depending on how it’s presented.  A cat tangling up a ball of yarn could be a creative way of describing the troubled life of someone who lies a lot. Or, maybe an intricate and complex spider web to go with the “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive,” cliche.

A sunrise can be used to symbolize a new beginning.  That same shot could be used as a sunset to mark the end of something.  Same shot, two opposite meanings!  Who knows whether the camera was facing east or west?  No one but the photographer.

I could go on and on but I think I’ve made my point!  Now, if this were a video instead of a text article, I’d to cut to a shot of my empty office chair spinning slowly, signifying that I am done writing my post and can go on that long-awaited potty break!

Thanks for reading Video Production Tips.

Lorraine Grula

Internet Video Gal

A Squeeze Page Video with a “story” and a clear call to action.
Having taught thousands of people to make video, it’s clear to me that the hardest aspect to grasp is how to tell a story.  I hear from readers all the time who  have no clue how to turn a video into a story, especially squeeze page or sales page videos that don’t have an obvious story.

Squeeze/sales page videos will do better if there is an element of story to them.  Few people will watch a video that is nothing but a blatant sales pitch.

Does that mean you have to stage something with fictional characters or do a “once upon a time” type of story?  No.

Adding some story to your squeeze page video is really as simple as adding some emotion by using a variety of video storytelling elements.

WHAT ARE VIDEO STORYTELLING ELEMENTS?

Video Storytelling elements are the visual and auditory elements that make up a video.  Here is a list of the most commonly used:

• Video Images
• Still Images
• Voice Over Narration
• Talking Heads
• Music
• Sound Effects
• Graphics, (logos or words on the screen)
• Dialogue
• Visual Effects, (such as special effects and edit transitions)
• Pacing

All of these things combined turn a video into a story.  Video images can pack a real emotional punch if you select the right images.   That’s the reason why you see so many TV commercials with cute pictures of babies or animals, even if the product has nothing to do with babies or animals. Cute pictures tug at our heart strings and add emotion.

Looking at a picture of a smiling person is likely to make us smile too. That’s emotion and implies that the product makes people happy.

Adding the shot of the wine glass breaking is an example of using a visual analogy.  The shot isn’t about dropping glasses, it implies a shattering, or breaking of the love bond.  This analogy would be strengthened if the VO said “breaks them apart” instead of “tears them apart,” but I think it still works.

Music is one of the best and easiest ways to add emotion to a video. Dramatic music will make our hearts race, soothing music does the opposite. That emotion gets carried over to the person watching the video.

The video I am highlighting in this post is one I made recently for a client who is a relationship and dating expert. This video is for her squeeze page, encouraging people to sign up for her free eCourses.

The video I chose tells you right away that the subject is love and dating.   Pink and red floating hearts plus happy couples enjoying themselves.

The music is soothing.  I carried that into the pacing of the video, which is slow and easy.  Notice all the slow dissolves.

I added words on the screen to identify the expert and her website by name, Dr. Dar, (Darshana Hawks, PhD).

The single biggest storytelling element in this video is the voice over script.  Voice over narration is often the main storytelling element.  You not only have words to work with, but you can alter your voice to fit the subject matter.  In this case, I tried to use a sexy, soothing voice.  I’d use an entirely different voice if I were advertising a rodeo.

BASIC SCRIPT FORMAT

I’ve printed out the script below.  At first glance, it may look like I have not used sales techniques but I have.  If you taker the script and strip it down to the bare bones generic basics, it would read something like this.

The product we are selling is essential.  You literally can not live without it!  But finding our product is really hard!  If you want our product you need us.  We are highly qualified and our customers love us.  Here are some reasons why that is true.  You can join this happy and contented group very easily just by signing up with your name and email.  We have the secrets to success with this product and they will be yours too if you join us.

Now, you’d never really do a video using that exact paragraph above.  But, that paragraph can be modified with prettier words and specific details to sell any product under the sun.  From love to cowboy boots, that format works for a high quality and effective squeeze page video that tells a story.

SCRIPT FOR ROMANCE EXPERT SQUEEZE PAGE VIDEO

VOICE OVER NARRATION:
What is it about love that makes us all crave it so bad?   Did you know that human beings actually need love?  Just like we need air and water.   Without love, we die.  Love is part of who we are, it’s what makes live enjoyable.

You’d think something so necessary would be a little bit easier, but no.  Nothing about love is easy.  Finding it, keeping it, most people find love a challenge.

That’s why turning to someone with tons of experience is a good idea.   You don’t have to figure it all out for yourself!   Relationship coaches can provide sensible, trustworthy and practical advice.  A certified relationship coach has formally studied relationships to find out  what makes them work and what tears them apart.

Dr. Darshana Hawks, known affectionately as Dr. Dar, is a certified relationship coach with a thriving business.  A cross between a best friend, and a  sensible professor,  Darshana works closely with her clients  to delve into the issues that are holding them back from making their love-lives blossom.

Darshana offers an effective, and radical alternative to traditional counseling.  Involved, caring and compassionate, Darshana will even come stay at your house if that’s what it takes to help you resolve whatever’s going on.

With a long list of satisfied clients, Dr. Dar has the experience, training, and heart to help you find and keep the relationship of your dreams.  Experience her for yourself.  Sign up for Dr. Dar’s free ecourses…one for singles, one for couples looking to reconnect.    Discover the secrets to lasting love.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The video screen shots demonstrate how easy it is to sign up, plus the video is placed on her page right next to some very obvious sign up forms. Adding the video demonstrating what you want people to do makes it unnecessary to give complete verbal instructions.  The verbal instructions would seem cumbersome and boring in comparison to the video.

Leave a comment in the section below with your thoughts on what makes a good squeeze page video.

Thanks for reading Video Production Tips.

Lorraine Grula

]]> http://videoproductiontips.com/squeeze-page-video-storytelling/feed 5 http://videoproductiontips.com/valentines-day-video-reminds-us-why-love-stinks http://videoproductiontips.com/valentines-day-video-reminds-us-why-love-stinks#comments Wed, 09 Feb 2011 22:54:55 +0000 Internet Video Gal http://videoproductiontips.com/?p=5576

Analysis of an Original Comedy Video.
This 2:46 video is an original production created by my class of second-year students back when I taught video at a small-town high school in Fairview, TN.   Go Yellow Jackets!

The subject of the video is one foremost on that age-group’s mind.  LOVE!

The assignment was simply to create something for Valentine’s Day.    From that, their minds whirred until they came up with this video of the intense, but short-lived romance between Betty Bonehead and Reginald Hinkersplit.

To help you come up with ideas for your own videos, I’m going to explain the process they went through, plus comment on both the positive and negative outcomes of their efforts. Learning to look critically at the work of others is a great way for you to grow as a video maker.

PRE PRODUCTION PROCESS FOR CREATING THIS VIDEO

First, I had them brainstorm story lines.  ”Stories” are often best borrowed from real life, since life really is just one big complicated story!

So we sat around chatting about the topic of dating, sharing stories from personal knowledge.  We also brought up fantasies, both positive and negative.  What was their biggest fear about going on a date?

After sharing real and imagined stories, it was obvious which ones were the most funny, interesting and unusual.  The fantasy and fear stories were certainly wilder.  Video has to be wilder than life too or it gets boring so we wanted to come up with something reasonably plausible, but still fun enough for other people to care and watch.

Embarrassment was definitely one of the recurring themes.  Since there are ten zillion ways to get embarrassed on a date, we knew that would resonate with the audience.   Being the fuddy-duddy teacher, I had to remind them that most viewers DO NOT want to see something like puking, so I told them to come up with a toned-down alternative to that embarrassing event!

The idea for getting jalapeno pepper juice in the eye was put forth as something that would still be embarrassing but not nearly as gross.  OK.  Now we had the event, but an event by itself does not make a fullfledged story.

In addition to being embarrassing, I suggested we make it the basis of a total misunderstanding, and hence the conflict of the story.  Stories are built upon incidents which lead to the characters reacting, which then leads you to you next incidents. Conflict is essential for any story and often comes about when people disagree and see things from their own perspective.

So we discussed different reactions to the guy getting the stinging juice in his eye.  Their immediate reaction was to think the girl could be sympathetic and say, “Oh honey, I am so sorry you’re hurt let me take care of you.”  I pointed out that reaction would not really lead to any conflict though.   That reaction would lead to their romance blossoming, which was not the direction they wanted the story to go.  So they thought harder and decided the girl needed to take his behavior personally and become offended.

What kind of girl would do that?   Smart young adults that they were, they recognized that any gal who would take it personally when her date suffered eye burn was hopelessly narcissistic and probably even stupid.  Betty Bonehead was born! (Played by Sarah, who was very sweet.)

Betty’s character determined what Sarah wore and what kind of background we made for her interview shot.  It determined the word choice and train of thought used in writing her dialogue.   Once you have character down, writing the script becomes easy because you can just imagine what such a person would say.

Story conflict is enabled more easily if you have characters who contrast each other.  As a contrast to Betty, the kids decided the male on the date would be a really nice guy.  The innocent victim of circumstance.  The starry-eyed lover who was NEVER going to figure out why the Queen of Hearts is so fickle!    Reginald Hickersplit seemed like an appropriate name. (Played by Mark.)

Then, to round out the story, they decided to create a villain who takes advantage at the victim’s expense!  Conveniently, they decided to make that the waiter at the restaurant where are two love birds were cooing. (Played by Cody.)

With the basic story and all three characters formed, the next step was to write a script that filled in all the details.  The details  include the show format and precisely what video will be shot and where.

SHOW FORMAT:

There are an infinite number of ways to tell a story on video.  I talk a lot about storytelling elements for video.  Producing a video is basically a process of gathering all the storytelling elements you want to use.  What video, what audio?

Format, or the basic structure of the finished video, helps you make those decisions.    For the sake of visual variety, we decided on a format of cutting back and forth between live action of the date and interviews with the characters’ perspective after the date was over.  That was clearly going to be a more efficient way to tell the story than just live action of the date.

This meant we need to shoot interviews with the two main characters and also shoot the actual date.  We shot the interviews in the studio where we had full and easy control of the lighting, sound, and so forth.   We shot the restaurant scene at the local pizza parlor that was owned by a friend of a friend.

The soundbites for the interviews were written out precisely because they were used at the main driver of the “real” story.  The chit-chat on the date was ad-lib and written out as instructions to flirt and act overly lovey-dovey to the point of silliness. The dialogue of lesser importance was ad-libbed for the sake of ease and expediency.  Ad-libbing can be so much faster and sometimes lead to great creativity.  Hammering out a word-for-word script by committee leads to time-consuming arguments. I mean discussions.

Problem is, ad-libbing leads to wandering stories that never make the point.   So we combined the two methods.

THE PRODUCTION PHASE

After all this brainstorming and planning, they did the actual videotaping.  Both of the interviews were professionally lit with four-point lighting, which is a variation of triangle lighting with one more added for background enhancement.  The lighting on the interviews is exquisite.  Only real flaw is they did not come up with anything good for Regie’s background so we used the inappropriate flower.  Oh well, no video is perfect.

The pizza parlor was hard to light and it shows.  There was no real way to get away from the windows behind them because of the layout of the room.  It took tons of front light to combat the back light from the windows.  It was one of those environments that just sucks the light up no matter how much you seem to pour at it.  The shadows are terrible because we had to pour so much direct light on the scene to combat the windows.

Getting decent audio when all three characters were on screen was hard because we only had the capacity for two mics!  Plus, they were wired lavalier mics. It was impossible to  hide the cords on the wide shot.  So we used a boom mic for those shots and had the kids SHOUT REAL LOUD!    It worked ok, but the line “Dump the zero and go with the hero!” said by the waiter when he’s running off with the chick is not heard well.  That was a pivotal line!  Cody had to make sure to face the boom microphone when he said the line. Look closely.  His movement is a bit awkward there because he can not run away with the girl and face the mic at the same time!

POST-PRODUCTION TRICKS

The students edited this video using Final Cut Pro.  Post-production enhancements included making the date video black and white but keeping the soundbite video in color. This contrast is a fairly common technique dating back to the Wizard of Oz. (They actually did it because the bean counters were screaming.) The video is turned black and white using the desaturation filter, saturation referring to chroma (color) saturation.

The date video was also enhanced with a soft focus look that theoretically makes the video look more like film. This is done with a composite effect. The exact same shot is duplicated and put on video lines 1 and 2.  Both are made B&W. The bottom line is given a Gaussian blur filter that takes it slightly out of focus.  The top line has the contrast blown out.   When you composite the two video lines gives the final effect.

WHAT THEY DID RIGHT

First off, they got the dang thing done.   We used to have a saying at the TV station where I worked, “It’s better than good, it’s DONE!”

Oh, so true!

In order to get it done in the time allotted, the students had to be eliminate some of their ideas.   At first they wanted to do several other stories like the one above with different characters and story lines.  Well, creating that much video proved to be too much.  Just like most of us have eyes bigger than our tummies at Thanksgiving, many novice video producers have unrealistic expectations about the length of time needed to make a professional quality video.

For their level of expertise, I think this video has many positive points. The writing, lighting, staging, directing and editing all have significant merit. Some of the acting is good and some is not. Sarah was just too sweet of a girl to act that narcissistic. She kept giggling when she was supposed to be getting huffy. Mark’s writhing performance was a tad over dramatic perhaps, but awfully funny.  This is the same boy who once purposely lit his hair on fire with one of our tungsten lamps.  Oh, the joys of teenagers.

WHAT THEY DID WRONG

Personally, I think most everything is top notch except for one killer.

THE PACING.  It is way too SLOW.

Movies and videos always move much faster than real life. They have to, otherwise they get boring. This video moves more like real life. The pacing of the dialogue, the pauses and hesitations happen every day and no one notices.  Do the same thing on video and it sticks out like a sore thumb. Reality is just too slow for video!

What’s your opinion? As you watch, what do you think works?  What doesn’t work?  What would you have done differently?  Contemplating the work of others is a good way to grow as a video maker because you can learn from their experiences.

Let me share one more common saying with video making is:   “You’re never DONE with a video, you just stop working on it!”

Another truism!  This video has been in the can for several years, and I sure do not have time to fix its flaws. It’s always helpful to critique and learn from past videos, but from a practical standpoint, it’s a wrap!

Thanks for reading VPT.

Lorraine Grula
Internet Video Gal

Profiling individual people and telling their story is a fundamental method of documentary style film making. 

In this post, I give you two examples from my own library.  I made both of these videos while working as a field producer/one-man-band video production crew for WSMV-TV in Nashville, TN.  I did everything except narrate.   Our anchor lady and my long time good pal Demetria Kalodimos narrated these pieces.

My job at the station was to produce health-oriented stories.  Healthcast was the name of my segment and no doubt wherever you live the local TV news has a similar segment.

The best, most entertaining videos to make are compelling stories of individuals who experienced whatever issue the story is about.

How do you make a video about an abstract subject like depression?   Tell the story of someone who dealt with it.  That’s what I did with the first video in this post, which I named “Garden Grief.”  (What is posted is just the first half of the story.)

The second video in this post is about losing weight.  As you can well imagine, like any health reporter, I’ve written more than once of the subject of weight loss!  This story stands out to me because I told it through the marriage of  Maria, a lifelong obese woman whom I’d profiled several times before about  weight loss.

Weight loss is a complex emotional issue.  What better way to impart that in a minute and a half than to intertwine it with the most emotional of all events, a wedding!  This video is the full story, just without the anchor intro.

DOCUMENTARY STYLE VIDEO MAKING

In order to do a basic profile story of a person on video, you need a good interview plus video of them doing something. If you are doing a long piece, you can make it more compelling using variety.  Videotape them doing several different activities, not just one.

Interview your subject in more than one location.  Interviewing them while they are doing something, and not just sitting there, is also a good idea although neither of these pieces make much use of that technique.

Hopefully, whatever video you take is perfectly related to the subject matter.  Sometimes it’s impossible to get the video you really WANT so you have to learn to configure the story around what you have.

In those cases, you write the narration in such a way that it makes perfect sense to be seeing the video we are seeing.  In the story on Maria getting married, once I established the link between love, weight loss and her wedding, it made perfect sense to see video of her putting on her wedding gown.

In the same manner with the depression story,  close-ups of bird’s nests and wind chimes make sense in context.

When I made the Garden Grief story, I really would have liked to have added some still pictures of the auto accident which lead to her depression.   If you watch the portion of the story I posted, there is no doubt that at the right time screeching tire sound effects, music and quick shots of the wreck scene would have worked well.

I did not do this because this video was produced in a context of JOURNALISM.  I needed images of the actual wreck, not just any generic wreck.  There was no way I could get them by deadline so I left them out.

If I had not been telling this story in the context of journalism, I would have felt free to use generic wreck shots and sounds. It would have added to the impact of the story, but it would have crossed ethical boundaries of realism in journalism for me.  Now there is not much ethical journalism going on in America today but that is another post!  I sure always tried.

Neither of these stories is anything outstanding, rather they are typical of what I used to do on a daily basis.  They are typical of documentary style film making in general.  No matter what kind of documentary style videos you want to make, chances are real high that profiling people and telling their stories will be one of the best ways for you to accomplish your goal.

I hope you enjoy these examples and can see from them all the different elements it takes to make a quality documentary style video.  Notice the pacing of the editing.  Rarely does any one shot last as long as ten seconds.  There are lots of close-ups.  There are short natural sound breaks between paragraphs of narration.

The video illustrates the story but really does not match word for word with what the narration is saying.  In is more of association type relationship between the words and the video, not a literal one.   People who have been making video forever (like me) consider this type of relationship between our visuals and our spoken words to be a more creative method that tells a more effective story.

Thanks for reading Video Production Tips.  as always, drop me a line if you have questions about online video.

Lorraine Grula

My client, the International Institute for Wellness and Integrated Healing, is in the development stages.  They have not actually setup shop yet, so there were no opportunities to videotape their office, their staff, or their patients.  They don’t have any yet!

So as a video producer, I had to create it all out of thin air.  On a tight budget! Here’s what we managed to conjure up.

The subject matter is Mind-Body Medicine.  It’s the integration of many different medical disciplines and schools of thought. Fortunately I know quite a bit about that subject as a former health reporter.

In order for the video to convey the wide diversity of concepts found in mind-body medicine, I looked for royalty free video clips that represented each and every one of them.  Physical health, mental health, spiritual health.   Nutrition.  Exercise.  Meditation.

I then found more clips that represented generalized medical science since M-B medicine is a science and research based philosophy.   (It started at Harvard Medical School in the 70′s with a doctor named Herbert Benson.)

Alone, none of these clips is adequate.  They only tell the story when they are put together.  That’s why I ended up with three shots on the screen at once.  One clip does not have enough meaning.  I used three and not two since the script started out discussing the trio that is Mind/Body medicine:  Mind, Body, Spirit.

Of course three clips at once makes for a rather busy screen, so I left each shot up for while a while in order to give viewer’s time to absorb it all.  When I started dissolving away to to other shots, I rotated the timing of the dissolves  so it would be less distracting.

When I needed to introduce the Oklahoma clinical psychologist who founded the Institute, I cut to a full screen JPEG of him which completely covered everything else.  Covering it all at once was an easy way to gracefully get away from the 3-shot pattern.

After cutting to the zoomed in JPEG, I slowly zoomed out on that jpeg using key frame animation.

When I came out of the still shot of the doctor, I had backed off to only  two shots up on the screen at once.  I think that looks better  than three shots, but I used three to match the three aspects of the Mind/Body/Spirit concept.

The soft peaceful clip of royalty free music I used, one of Mike Stewart’s, was only one minute long so I looped it.     Looping means I started it over again when it was finished.  I overlap that a bit to make it sound more natural.   You overlap it by putting the audio on separate tracks and then lining them up to over lap.  If you had them all on the same track, it would be harder to get a good blending.

I also looped many of the animations in order to make them last longer.  With so many shots on the screen at once, I did not want to have a rapid pace too.  This video is supposed to convey serenity so it should not move a million miles an hour.

So there you have it.   If the clinic were actually opened, I would have loved to have gotten some shots of their staff at work.  But, of course with all videos, you work with what you  have.  If you h ave to conjure up something out of nothing, using stock footage is the way to go.

Thanks for reading VPT

Lorraine Grula